Date Night
by Britt0913
Summary: It's Will and Vince's anniversary and they need a babysitter for Ben. Who do they turn to?


"C'mon Will, we haven't gone out in months! It's our anniversary on Wednesday. I wanted to take you out to dinner and maybe to a movie, if we can tear ourselves away from Ben for a few hours."

Vince and Will were in the kitchen of their apartment, washing the dishes while Karen and Jack played with Ben on the couch.

"Vince, you know I'd love to go out for a real date night with you, but who's going to watch the baby?"

They both looked over to the living room where Jack was sitting on the coffee-table eyeing Ben with a hesitant look on his face. Trying to decide whether or not to get closer to him.

"I'm obviously not trusting our son with Jack for the evening." Will said, raising his eyebrows to his partner. They both turned to look into the living room again. Karen was sitting on the couch, and unlike Jack, was interacting with Ben. They seemed to be involved in a very intense round of peek-a-boo, in which Karen would make a funny face every time she moved her hands so she could see Ben, eliciting a giggle from him every time.

Vince and Will turned to one another. Vince raised his eyebrows and smiled, nodding. Will furrowed his and shook his head.

"Wilma! Vincenzo! How long does it take to wash a few dishes? I want dessert!" Karen yelled, standing up from the couch, picking up Ben and walking towards the kitchen.

Will reached his arms out for the baby when Karen got close enough, but Ben chose to snuggle closer to Karen's side, wrapping his arms around her neck. Will was surprised, but not as surprised as when Karen didn't pull away, merely hugging Ben tightly.

Will looked to Vince and nodded, sighing defeatedly. Vince's eyes widened and a broad smile traveled over his face. Jack, who had stood from the coffee-table and joined the group near the kitchen, noticed Vince's expression.

"What's with the face, Vince?"

"Nothing, Jack."

Jack shrugged. "Whatever." He looked down at his watch. "Oh, I've gotta go! My date with Josh is in half an hour and I've gotta get downtown." He kissed Karen's cheek, then waved to Ben. "Thanks for dinner, guys! Bye Kare."

"Night, Poodle."

Once Jack had left, Karen and the boys sat down at the table, eating their dessert. While Ben was eating his pudding, he held out a spoonful for Karen, who took it without hesitation, not caring when a bit of chocolate smeared across her face.

Will watched this scene with interest. Maybe it would be alright for Karen to babysit. It at least wouldn't hurt to ask her, right?

Vince cleared his throat and motioned toward Karen. Will got the hint.

"Karen, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, honey." She answered, turning her full attention towards him.

"Um, well….it's our anniversary on Wednesday, and well, we were wondering if you…" he trailed off.

"If I……what?"

Will sighed. "If you could watch Ben for a night."

Karen's eyes widened. A look of shock on her face.

Taking in her expression, Will turned to Vince. "See. I told you it was a bad idea. I'm sorry, Karen. Forget we ever mentioned it."

"No! Honey, it's not that I don't want to! I'd love to watch him! It just took me by surprise that you trust me with him. Please let me watch him? Please?" Karen whined like a four-year old.

"Great. So it's settled." Vince interjected. "How about we drop him off around six?"

"Oh, I don't think dropping him off at the manse is a good idea, Vince. I mean, all his toys and crib and things are here. I just think he'd be more comfortable—" Will said before Karen interrupted his last sentence.

"Six it is, Vinnie! And don't worry, Wilma. I'm a lot more together than you'd think. Ben will be fine with me. Won't you, buddy?" She reached toward Ben and tickled under his chin making him laugh.

Two days later, Will and Vince dropped Ben off at exactly six o'clock. Ben squealed with delight when he saw Karen and reached out to her immediately when she opened the door.

"Hi buddy. We're gonna have a good time, right? I can see one of your daddies is a nervous wreck." She said to the baby, pointing to Will.

"Here's his diaper bag. There's plenty of diapers, four bottles, baby food, a few toys and books and a spare change of clothes as well. He'll probably be hungry in about an hour." Vince said, looking through the bag to make sure he didn't forget anything.

"Gotcha." Karen reached out and took the bag from him, slinging it over her shoulder.

"Okay. Well, I guess you're all set. Do you have any questions?" he asked her.

"Jeez, Vinnie. He's a baby, not a video game. I think I'm competent enough to handle this for the night, don't you?"

Will opened his mouth to speak but was quickly covered by Vince's hand.

"Say 'Bye Daddies!'" Karen prodded Ben as she waved his little hand.

Will and Vince came over and kissed their son goodbye, promising that they'd be back by 11 o'clock.

Once they were gone and the door was shut, Karen looked to the baby in her arms.

"So, now what?" she asked him, laughing when he merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, how about we see what toys your daddies brought for you, and if you don't like any we'll figure something else out."

Karen sat down on the floor close to Ben and began to rummage through the diaper bag. After pulling out several brightly colored plastic toys, Karen grabbed a book from inside the bag. "A Little Princess"? Kid, if I didn't know your father so well, I'd consider this weird." Ben giggled, even though Karen knew he didn't understand what she had said.

They sat together on the floor for over an hour when Karen looked up at the clock.

"Hey Benny?" Ben shifted his gaze from his toys to his aunt. "You hungry?"

Nodding profusely, Ben watched as Karen dug through the diaper bag again and procured several jars of baby food, lining them up on the floor. "Let's see….crushed peas, apples and bananas, rice cereal, sweet potatoes, applesauce. How am I supposed to know which one you're gonna like?"

Ben crawled over toward Karen, looking at the food. He studied each of them carefully before pointing at the jars of applesauce and rice cereal.

"Well, I guess that's how. Okay, Benny. Let's go eat." She stood up from the floor and placed Ben on her hip, walking into the kitchen. She grabbed a spoon, as well as her dinner plate which Rosario had left warming in the oven, and sat down at the kitchen table, placing Ben in the high chair she had Rosario bring down for the evening.

Once they had finished eating, Karen took Ben back into the living room, searching through his bag for the change of clothes. Ben had decided that he was capable of feeding himself, and Karen, being the pushover aunt that she was, let him. Needless to say, more food ended up on his clothing than in his mouth.

Sitting at a candlelit table in a fancy restaurant uptown, Will couldn't help but be a nervous wreck.

"Will, come on. Try and relax, it's our anniversary."

"I'm sorry, Vince. It's just….Karen and Ben, alone…..I'm a little worried."

"Will, you saw him with her. He was happy. And you know that I wouldn't have left them alone together if I didn't think Karen could handle this. He'll be fine. Stop worrying."

Will visibly relaxed and let Vince order another bottle of wine. They made plans for a late movie since Karen and Ben were probably doing fine.

Across town, Karen and Ben were watching a movie. It was after eleven o'clock, and Will and Vince still weren't back. Ben refused to go to sleep, so he and Karen settled in the media room and put on one of the several children's movies left from when Olivia and Mason still lived at the manse.

Looking down at her nephew, Karen smiled. He was curled up into a ball, lying his head in her lap and focusing on the television. She could tell he was fighting against sleep, and it seemed that he was about to lose the battle. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head and she placed her hand on his shoulder. She hadn't thought about it before, but she knew exactly where Ben could go to sleep and relax.

"Ben, honey? I want to show you something okay?"

Ben nodded and got off the couch, lifting his arms up for Karen when he realized he was too tired to walk himself. Picking him up, Karen carried him up the stairs and down the hallways, until they finally reached their destination.

Jack had made her rediscover the room almost two years ago, and since then she hadn't been in it. Looking at Ben, nearly sleeping on her shoulder, she knew this would be a good idea. Will and Vince had promised to be back by eleven o'clock, but then again, it was their anniversary and their son was out of the apartment.

Karen opened the door, and flipped on a light switch. Ben lifted his head from Karen's shoulder and took a good look around the room. The crib, rocking chair and stuffed animals were exactly how she remembered them. Looking around, there was not an ounce of dust on any of the surfaces. One of the maids, most likely Rosario, must have been cleaning it.

Ben pointed over to the rocking chair and stuffed animals that sat on top of it. Karen took that as a hint and sat down with Ben on her lap, handing him a stuffed animal to play with while humming him a soothing lullaby. Ben's head dropped to her shoulder, and Karen felt his breathing become deep and even as she continued to rock back and forth.

An hour and a half later, Will and Vince showed up at the manse, ready to pick up Ben. When they had called, Rosario answered and told them that Karen and Ben were busy. Knocking on the door, Rosario answered and ushered them inside.

"Where's our boy?" Will asked.

"He's upstairs with Miss Karen, sleeping."

"Okay, well, where are they?"

"Down the hallway that leads to Mr. Stan's old library, right across from it."

"Thanks Rosie." Vince called as Will started up the stairs.

They got to the doorway of the room and froze. There they were. Sitting in the rocking chair, fast asleep. Karen had her arms wrapped around Ben and Ben was lying his head on Karen's chest, holding onto a stuffed animal.

Will slowly walked into the room and surveyed his surroundings. Taking note of the crib and all the baby toys, Will felt his heart drop in realization that this room was made for Karen and Stan's child that didn't exist and never would.

Karen stirred slightly in her sleep without opening her eyes. Will backed out of the room and joined Vince in the hallway.

"Okay, let's go home. We'll come pick him up in the morning." Will whispered.

"What? You expect me to sit at home for the rest of the night with you worrying?"

"I'm not gonna worry. I think we should let Karen keep him for the night. They look comfortable."

"You're sure?"

Will nodded his head and smiled sadly, glancing back into the room. "I trust her."

"Okay." Vince put his arm around Will's shoulder and began walking down the hallway and out of the penthouse, back to their apartment.

Karen, who had been awake since Will had entered the room, smiled to herself upon hearing the door shut. She looked down to Ben and smiled, smoothing his hair down gently. "I told your daddies I knew what I was doing." She kissed his forehead, then rested her head back against the rocking chair and fell asleep again.


End file.
